This volume presents approaches and strategies for integrating literacy acquisition into social studies content and processes, for deepening student understanding of the social sciences, and for motivating students to read and write in the social studies class. The book is intended to be a teachers' reference tool for planning creative and challenging social studies classes. Special features include: a review of current thinking in literacy education and student motivation; step-by-step procedures for teaching social studies vocabulary while emphasizing concept development; literacy-based strategies to develop critical thinking abilities; and guidelines for fostering the reading of historical-content books by students and a recommended list of historical literature appropriate for teachers to read aloud or for students to read independently. Chapters include: (1) "Enhancing Literacy Abilities through Social Studies Content"; (2) "Building Vocabulary and Conceptual Knowledge"; (3) "Using Reading and Writing to Foster Critical Thinking"; and (4) "Linking History, Literature, and Students." (EH)